"Learning and excelling is a scholar" is a sentence in the "Zizhang Chapter", many people interpret it as reading to get good grades to become an official, so they think that Confucius is the advocate and initiator of "reading to become an official".
In fact, this was said by Zi Xia, a student of Confucius, because it came from the "Analects", so people put the "crime" on Confucius's head.
"Really advocating reading to be an official?".In fact, this is just the second half of what Zi Xia said, and the full text is like this: Zi Xia said: "If you are excellent, you will learn, and if you are excellent, you will learn." If you say that if you have good grades in school, you will become an official, then can you say that if you have good grades in school, you can go to school?Clearly unconscionable. So, it's debatable.
Those who disagree with this statement make a fuss about the word "excellent". For example, Zhu Xi interprets it as "having spare strength". Mr. Yang Bojun translated the article as: "If you are a good official, you will study if you have spare time."If you study well, you will become an official if you have spare energy."
But it still doesn't seem appropriate. Although the ancient meaning of the word "excellent" has the meaning of abundance and abundance, it should also be interpreted here as a good result.
Savor the meaning of the text, in fact, Zixia means that if you have made achievements in politics and officials, you must not be proud, but should strengthen your study, so as to further improve your ability;We must not be complacent if we have made achievements in study, because Confucianism advocates applying what we have learned, and when we have achieved results in study, we must apply them to practice and further improve our ability in practice. In order to apply the knowledge we have learned to practice, of course, the only way to become an official is to go into politics.
Therefore, this chapter can be translated as: "Those who have achievements in politics should study (in order to further improve), and those who have achieved achievements in study should study in politics (in order to further apply)." ”
Did Confucius also advocate "learning and excellence leads to excellence"?
The answer is yes. In the chapter "Zihan", Zigong once used beautiful jade as a metaphor and asked Confucius: "There is beautiful jade in Si, Yun Xi and hide it, and seek goodness and sell it."Confucius immediately said: "Sell it, sell it, I will treat Jia as well." ”
Moreover, the "Yang Goods" chapter has repeatedly recorded the situation of Confucius's many desires, such as Yang goods persuading Confucius to become an official, and Confucius said: "No." I will also. When Zilu was dissatisfied, Confucius also said: "I can't be a melon, I can't tie it without eating." ”
Confucius not only wants to be a man himself, but also encourages them to engage in politics, he has recommended it to people many times, such as "Gongye Chang" to recommend to Meng Wubo, Yongye" chapter to Ji Kangzi to introduce his talents, etc., it can be seen that Confucius is not against "learning and excellence", in layman's terms, it is to study and become an official.
Why did Confucius agree with "learning and excellence leads to excellence"?We must first understand the "learning" mentioned here. The chapter "Shuer" says: "The Son teaches four things: literature, action, loyalty, and faithfulness. It can be seen that the "learning" mentioned by Zixia is the content of these four aspects. "Loyalty" and "faithfulness" mainly refer to the aspect of "self-cultivation", that is, personal moral character. Of course, "Wen" can be broadly understood as a variety of knowledge and skills, but Confucius's teaching is more focused on "governance" and "peace"."Action" is the focus of Confucius's teaching philosophy.
Confucius opposed learning for the sake of learning, but strongly advocated learning for the sake of "doing", that is, to apply the knowledge learned to practice. If in Confucius's educational philosophy, "cultivation" and "qi" emphasize personal moral cultivation as the foundation for establishing oneself in society, then governing the country and leveling the world are the real goals and ultimate goals of his education.
In order to achieve the implementation of "governance" and "peace", of course, you have to be an official and become an official. Only by becoming an official can he display his ambition and talent, can he "serve the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" (Xingzhou Road in the East), and can he "cultivate himself to settle people".
In this way, we understand that the study and official mentioned by "learning and excellence" is not for the sake of being high, being a prestige, being a blessing, a fish and meat for the people, and a vegetarian corpse, but for the country, the people, and the people.
It is precisely because of this grand ambition that Confucius, who also served as an official, held the principle of "seeing if there is a way, and hiding if there is no way", when his own ideas could not be adopted and his ambitions could not be displayed, he no longer fell in love with the stack, and did not hesitate to resign from the official position, and had the style of "being an official is not for the people, it is better to go home and sell sweet potatoes".
Of course, Confucius did not sell sweet potatoes, but focused on preaching, teaching, solving doubts, and teaching and educating people. Otherwise, there would only be one more peddler and pawn in Chinese history, but one less saint who has been famous through the ages.